231 > 350 SWAP - COMPLETE Specialty swap (Fixed - Cranking issue / Turning over) - Built from Block

Theres power going to the distributor with the Bat/Tach connection but there is no spark. It spins but its missing something to give it the spark. Tried a spark tester on the distributor and it didn't light up. So I know its something within the electrical/spark area.

 

Well you should have spark if you got power going in. so if it were me if you know somebody with another HEI and I understand your distributor should be new but maybe you have a bad ignition module or coil or maybe pull the cap off the coil and see if your ground strap is in there. I think the coil from the 3.8 HEI should fit. Your distributor is the prime source of spark if you have power going in and during crank and it's grounded when it cranks there should be Spark. Just saying process of elimination

 

Yea it would be hard to think that it would be the coil or module since its brand new. Unless its just faulty out the box.

 

Is the ground solid? No paint ,oil or grease.

 

Alright here is some pictures of how mine is currently. Ground is battery to body, battery to engine,engine to body.

 

Distributor, between the yellow wire and the red wire is the ground strip you should have the plug-in coming from your ignition module hooking up to that I'm sure it is but pull the 3 screws and check it out. Your power should be going to the red wire, yellow is tach. Black Box with the two screws in it. that is your ignition module if you decide to go to parts store to get one, the last time I needed one 300 miles from home I went to O'Reilly's they had it in stock for $40. But if you change it out make sure the white paste under it gets transferred to the new one. if you install it without the white paste it will burn out. I think it's thermal compound if I remember correctly.

 

The firing order from my $5 swap meet Bible, hope some of this helps and gets it running. Josh

 

The ground is connected to the alternator bracket bolt that bolts into the cylinder head.

 

I can say that I only have the battery cable plugged into the starter and block... ( Pos to Starter , Neg to Engine block/alternator bolt) . I HAVE NOT used the smaller port on the battery that comes with the yellow ending. So I know that there isnt anything attached to the body, only to the block and starter.

I also have the ground connected to the firewall which was screwed on the back of the cylinder head.

 

Also, I had an ignition module that I bought. I just figured that I would take it back since it was once inside the distributor already. And I got the Buick v8 manual so I have the firing order right. I’ll check the distributor tomorrow completely to see if it’s no issues with it.

 

Charge the battery if you haven't. Did you get the distributor ALL the way in?

 

Attempted to start the battery with a jump start, it was 12.6V and when cranked it get 8V. The alternator is pulling the same voltage that’s come from the battery. When stopped, it went back to 12..4~.6 with the jumper cables still on. I take them off and it goes down 0.01 every seconds until it got to about 12.2v. Without the jumper cables, after bringing it back TDC, it went back down to 11.7 (w/o headlight on) to 11.5 (w/headlights on). Crank just went straight down to 4~8v. Distributor is set in. It’s spinning accordingly. All of the terminals are plugged in on the ignition coil and module. When key has IGN on, it’s getting the same voltage in the BAT wire as the battery when I remove it from the distributor. But like I said before, the alternator only spins from the belt, but hasn’t pulled no other power other than when the battery delivers. It’s just like a huge power dump when turning the key. I have a Duralast Gold battery but I wasn’t sure if the optima would change anything if I did the swap even tho it didn’t turn over with the jumper cables. Also, I noticed on the fuel pump that there is a return line on the pump but the pump on the 3.8 does not have it. After the attempts to crank I noticed there was gas in the fuel filter going towards the carb but it was also dripping onto the floor from the return line. The Regal 3.8 only has 1 fuel line to connect to the tank and 1 to the carb. That’s a minor thing I can fix with a new pump so I know that’s fixable with a couple bolts. But this low voltage thing is mind-boggling lol.

 

Yea I bought the starter less than 6 months ago, from AZ. Waiting to install. So pretty much it’s only been used to attempt to crank all these times. But yea the battery instantly goes under 8V when cranking even with the cables on. I know batteries over time can’t sit forever but I bought it in Feb so it’s fairly new but holding only 12V at the most. Rather than the normal 12.6V. But it should still at least turn over with enough power from a jump...

 

Here is the distributor that was purchased

https://www.topstreetperformance.com/hei-buick-sb-v8-distributor

I’ve had it since about May/June.

 

I never thought about but wondered do I need to purchase an separate Ignition coil for the engine? It never had one but I see there is an accel branded one you can buy. Not sure if this effects the output of voltage with it not having the ignition coil cylinder in the car.